Aeroelasticity & Experimental Aerodynamics

(AERO0032-1)

Lecture 1
Introduction – Equations of motion

T. Andrianne

2015-2016
Introduction
•  Aeroelasticity = study of the interaction of inertial,
structural and aerodynamic forces
•  Applications on aircrafts, buildings, surface vehicles etc.
Inertial Forces

Structural dynamics Flight Dynamics

Dynamic
Aeroelasticity

Collar’s triangle
Structural Forces Aerodynamic Forces
Static Aeroelasticity

2
Why is it important?

The interaction between these three forces can

cause several undesirable phenomena:

–  Divergence (static aeroelastic phenomenon)

–  Flutter (dynamic aeroelastic phenomenon)
–  Vortex-induced vibration, buffeting (unsteady
aerodynamic phenomena)
–  Limit Cycle Oscillations (nonlinear aeroelastic
phenomenon)

3
Static Divergence

movie

NASA wind tunnel experiment on a forward swept wing

4
 Flutter

movie

Flutter experiment:
Winglet under fuselage of a F-16. Slow Mach number increase.

à Prediction of the flutter Mach number from subcritical test data and to stop
the test before flutter occurs.
5
 Vortex-induced vibrations

movie movie

Flow visualization of vortices shed

behind a cylinder Vortex-induced vibrations

(more details in Lecture 6)

6
Limit Cycle Oscillations

movie movie

Stall flutter of a wing at an angle of attack Torsional flutter of a rectangle

7
Even more LCOs

movie movie

Galloping of a bridge deck

Torsional flutter oscillations of a
bridge deck
(more details in Lecture 7)

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Many more LCOs

movie

Sub-critical LCO of a delta wing 9

 In real applications
Out of the lab :

movie
movie

Tacoma Narrows Bridge Flutter Glider Limit Cycle Oscillations

movie Various phenomena

10
In real applications
Even on very expensive kits

movie movie

Store-induced LCO on F-16

Fin buffeting on F-18

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A bit of history

•  The first ever flutter incident occurred on the

Handley Page O/400 bomber in 1916 in the UK.
•  A fuselage torsion mode coupled with an
antisymmetric elevator mode (the elevators
were independently actuated)
•  The problem was solved by coupling the
elevators

12
More history

•  Control surface flutter became a frequent

phenomenon during World War I and in the
interwar period.
•  It was solved in the mid-twenties by mass
balancing the control surface.

13
 Increasing airspeed
•  Aircraft flight speeds increased significantly during the
20s and 30s.
•  A number of high-speed racing aircraft suffered from
flutter problems

Curtiss R-6

Supermarine S-4 Loening R-4

Verville-Sperry R-3

14
US flutter experiences in the 1930s

General Aviation YO-27: Wing-aileron and

rudder-fuselage flutter

Fairchild F-24:
Wing-aileron and
Boeing YB-9A: Rudder-
tail flutter
fuselage LCO

Curtiss YA-8: Rudder-fin flutter

15
Other historic examples

•  Aircrafts that experienced aeroelastic phenomena

–  Handley Page O/400 (elevators-fuselage)
–  Junkers JU90 (fluttered during flight flutter test)
–  P80, F100, F14 (transonic aileron buzz)
–  T46A (servo tab flutter)
–  F16, F18 (external stores LCO, buffeting)
–  F111 (external stores LCO)
–  F117, E-6 (vertical fin flutter)
•  Read ‘Historical Development of Aircraft Flutter’, I.E. Garrick,
W.H. Reed III, Journal of Aircraft, 18(11), 897-912, 1981

16
 F-117 crash
•  Crash during an airshow in Maryland in 1997
•  Four fasteners that connected the elevon actuator
to the wing structure were missing.
•  Reduction of the actuator-elevon stiffness, leading
to elevon-wing flutter

movie

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 Aeroelastic investigations
How to avoid these phenomena?
à Wind tunnel testing:
Aeroelastic scaling
à Complete aircraft (prototype) testing:
à  Ground Vibration Testing :
Complete modal analysis of aircraft structure
à  Flight Flutter Testing :
Demonstrate that flight envelope is flutter free
à Aeroelastic Design:
Computing critical airspeeds of Divergence,
Flutter, Control Reversal
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Wind Tunnel Testing

¼ scale F-16 flutter model F-22 buffet test model

à Scaling the aeroelastic behaviour of the aircraft

Inertial Forces

Dynamic
Aeroelasticity

Structural Forces Aerodynamic Forces 19

 Wind Tunnel Testing
Similarity laws:

à  Geometric similarity : Models dimensions

Turbulence scales
(CLA + topography)
à  Kinematic similarity : Power spectral density
Turbulence intensity
(Mean wind speed)
à  Dynamic similarity : Reynolds number
Reduced frequency fL/U

Damping ratio
Mass ratio 20
 Wind Tunnel Testing
Un-respected similarity laws

à  Geometric discrepancies between model & prototype

à  Kinematic discrepancies between real incoming flow

and wind tunnel flow

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 Wind Tunnel Testing
Un-respected similarity laws

à  Dynamic discrepancies :

Reynolds number UL/ν à Re effect for curved surfaces

à Surface roughness / pressurized
wind tunnel

Reduced frequency fL/U à What happens in the lab is much

faster than in reality
à High frequency measurements

Damping ratio à Difficult measurement (prototype and model)

and adjustment of damping (model)
Mass ratio à High density material needed 22
 Wind Tunnel Testing
Limitations

à Un-respected similarity laws

à Support the model

à Blockage effect

à Wall constraint effects

à Limited amount of measurements (low spatial resolution vs.

high temporal resolution)

à Cost
23
Wind Tunnel Testing

movie

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Wind Tunnel Testing

movie

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Wind Tunnel Testing

movie

26
 Ground Vibration Testing
GVT of F-35 aircraft

GVT of A340

Space Shuttle GVT27

Flight Flutter Testing

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Flight Flutter Testing

movie

AIRBUS A350 Flight Flutter Testing

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Aeroelastic Modeling
•  Aircraft are very complex structures with many
modes of vibration and can exhibit very complex
fluid-structure interaction phenomena
•  The exact modeling of the aeroelastic behaviour of
an aircraft necessitates the coupled solution of:
–  The full compressible Navier Stokes equations
–  The full structural vibrations equations
•  Start with something simpler: pitch-plunge airfoil

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Pitch Plunge Airfoil

Two-dimensional, two degree-of

freedom airfoil, quite capable of
demonstrating most aeroelastic
phenomena.

α = pitch degree of freedom

h = plunge degree of freedom
xf = position of flexural axis
(pivot)
xc = position of centre of mass
Kh = plunge spring stiffness
Kα = pitch spring stiffness

In fact, we will simplify even

further and consider a flat plate
airfoil (no thickness, no camber)

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 Content of the course

Introduction to aeroelastic modeling

Static aeroelastic phenomena : Divergence
Dynamic aeroelastic phenomena:
–  Flutter
–  Vortex-induced vibration
–  Galloping
Practical aeroelasticity:
–  Aeroelastic design
–  Ground Vibration Testing, Flight Flutter Testing

7 lectures + 2 Matlab sessions + 3 Labs

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Model

•  Two aspects of each aeroelastic models:

– A structural model
– An aerodynamic model

•  A control model can be added to represent

the effects of actuators and other control
elements

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Structural Model
Use the total energy conservation

Kinetic energy of element dm :

xc

dy
dx
h
α

xf
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Kinetic Energy

Integrating between 0 and c gives the total kinetic

energy:

where

Note : we assume xc = c /2 (center of gravity at mid-

chord)

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Potential Energy

Potential energy = Energy stored in the two springs:

•  Gravity can be conveniently ignored

•  Total energy= kinetic energy + potential energy

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Equations of motion
Equations of motion are obtained by inserting the
expression for the total energy into Lagrange’s
equation

à  Set of 2 equations of the form

or,
where Q is a vector of external forces
Note: no damping term is included at this stage
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Aerodynamic model

•  The possible aerodynamic models depends on

flow regime and simplicity

•  In general, only four flow regimes are considered

by aeroelasticians:
–  Incompressible
–  Subsonic
–  Transonic
–  Supersonic
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Lift and moment

•  Lift at the quarter chord (aerodynamic center)

•  Aerodynamic moment around the flexural axis
xf

c/4

l
mxf h
α

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Incompressible, Unsteady Aerodynamics

Oscillating airfoils leave behind

them a strong vortex street. The
vorticity in the wake affects the
flow over the airfoil:
The instantaneous aerodynamic
forces depend not only on the
instantaneous position of the
airfoil but also on the position and
strength of the wake vortices.
This means that instantaneous
aerodynamic forces depend not
only on the current motion of the
airfoil but on all its motion history
from the beginning of the motion.
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Wake examples (Pitch)

Pitching airfoil-
Low frequency

Pitching airfoil-
High frequency

41
Wake examples (Plunge)

Plunging airfoil-
Low amplitude

Plunging airfoil-
High amplitude

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 Quasi-steady aerodynamics
= Simplest possible modeling consists of ignoring the
effect of the wake

•  Non-penetration boundary condition (BC) :

à Total flow velocity at each point x of the airfoil must
be parallel to the airfoil’s camberline at that point

•  Quasi-steady models assume that there are only

four contributions to the aerodynamic forces:
–  Horizontal airspeed U, at angle α(t) to airfoil
–  Normal component of pitch speed,
–  Airfoil plunge speed,
–  Local velocity induced by the vorticity around the airfoil,
vi(x,t) 43
Quasi-steady aerodynamics
Effect of the pitch rate ?
Flow velocity seen by the flat plate at x:
α̇ > 0
U

−(xf − x)α̇

QS assumption: Flow velocity from the motion is

much small than free stream velocity:

44
 Quasi-steady aerodynamics
à  Effect of the pitch rate = changing the flow
angle at each chord-wise location:
–  Free stream airspeed is still U
–  Free stream angle is

Negative angle of attack à Positive camber

à  Airfoil shape is effectively cambered

Camber slope = - effective aoa

α̇ > 0
U

−(xf − x)α̇

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Quasi-steady aerodynamics
Effect of the plunge rate ?

Also contribute to the relative airspeed, but

constant over the entire airfoil
ḣ > 0
U

Assuming
à Plunge rate change the total angle of attack:

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(h is defined positive downwards)
 Lift coefficient
From thin airfoil theory, cl = 2π (A0+A1/2)
where

and effective camber from the pitching motion:

… à
= total circulatory lift acting on the airfoil
(lift created by the vorticity distribution)
There is another type of lift acting on it (presented later)
47
Moment coefficient

•  Moment coefficient around the leading edge

(according to the thin airfoil theory) theory is
given by cm= -cl /4 - π (A1-A2)/4

•  The moment coefficient around the flexural

axis is given by cmxf = cm + xf cl /c

•  Substituting and integrating yields

48
Added Mass

•  Apart from the circulatory lift and moment, the air

exerts another force on the airfoil.

•  The wing is forcing a mass of air (fluid) around it

to move. The air reacts and this force is known as
the added mass effect.

•  It can be seen as the effort required to move a

cylinder of air with mass πρb2 where b=c/2

•  This force causes both lift and moment

contributions
49
 Full lift and moment
always important

only important at high frequency

where

These are substituted into the structural equations of motion:

50
Full aeroelastic equations of motion

= Second order, linear, ordinary differential equations.

•  Notice that the equations are of the form

( A + ρ B !!
) (
q + C + ρUD !
) (
q + E + ρU 2
F) q = 0

•  And that there are mass, damping and stiffness

matrices both aerodynamic and structural

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 Pitch-plunge equations of motion

= Full equations of motion for the pitch-plunge airfoil

with quasi-steady aerodynamics.
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Static Aeroelasticity

•  Study of the static equilibrium of the

system.
•  Static means that all velocities and
accelerations are zero.

The equations of motion become

53
 Aerodynamic Coupling (1)
•  Apply an external moment M at the flexural axis
•  The static equilibrium equations become

•  The second equation can only be satisfied if

α = M/(Kα-ρU2ec2π )

•  Then, the first equation can only be satisfied if

h = - ρU2cπ M/Kh(Kα-ρU2ec2π )

54
 Aerodynamic Coupling (2)
•  This phenomenon is called aerodynamic coupling:

Changing the pitch angle causes a change in the plunge.

•  This is logical since increased pitch means

increased lift.

55
Aerodynamic Coupling (3)
•  If we apply a force F on the flexural axis
•  The static EOM becomes

•  The second equation can only be satisfied if α = 0

•  The first equation then gives h = F/Kh

à No aerodynamic coupling:

Increasing the plunge does not affect the pitch.
•  This is not the general case. The pitch-plunge
model ignores 3D aerodynamic effects
•  In real aircraft bending and torsion are both
coupled. 56
Static Divergence (1)

•  The second static equilibrium equation with an

applied moment

•  If Kα > ρU2ec2π à the spring and aerodynamic

stiffness constitute a restoring force, which will
balance the external moment

•  If Kα < ρU2ec2π à the spring and aerodynamic

stiffness do not constitute a restoring force.
Instead of balancing the external moment, they
add to it.
à The static equilibrium is unstable. 57
Static Divergence (2)
•  Static divergence in pitch occurs if the moment due
to the lift around the flexural axis is higher than the
structural restoring force and of opposite sign :
ρU2ec2π α > Kαα à ρU2ec2π > Kα
•  For every pitch stiffness there is an airspeed above
which static divergence will occur
Kα
U=
ρ ec 2 π
•  This airspeed must be outside the flight envelope of
the aircraft (with margin) to be safe.
•  The pitch-plunge model does not allow for static
divergence in plunge.
•  Again, this is because it ignores 3D effects. 58
Static Divergence (3)

movie

NASA wind tunnel experiment on a forward swept wing

59
Static Divergence (4)
Remember that e = xf / c - 1/4
•  If the flexural axis lies on the quarter-chord
(aerodynamic center), à e = 0

à  ρU2ec2π α = 0 à no moment of the lift around the

flexural axis
à  Static divergence is no longer possible

•  If xf is ahead of the aerodynamic centre, e < 0 and

the static equilibrium equation becomes

à Static divergence is no longer possible

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Summary
•  Aeroelasticity = study of the interaction of inertial,
structural and aerodynamic forces
•  Instabilities: divergence, flutter, VIV, galloping
•  Analysis techniques:
à Wind tunnel testing
Aeroelastic scaling (similarity laws)
à Flight flutter testing
à Aeroelastic design
2 dof’s + QS aerodynamics

Divergence = static instability

61